Life in Cayuga

Jimmy Carter died today.  In a previous post I told you how I heard him speak at Mississippi State when I was a student, and how that speech has shaped my political beliefs for almost 50 years now.   Jimmy Carter was a good president.  He wasn’t a great president, but he was a good one.  He led our country with honor, dignity, and grace. The only black mark on his presidency is the Iran hostage situation. He did some great things.  He brokered the historic Egypt-Israel peace accord. He created the Department of Education. But the thing that made him a great president were the things he did after leaving office.  He didn’t just sit back, make speeches for big money, or serve on corporate boards. He continued to try to make the world a better place. If building Habitat houses was all he did, that in itself made him great.  But that’s not all he did.  He led the fight to eradicate diseases in Africa.  He continued to meet world leaders to work f...

 Today is Christmas.  Families everywhere are gathering to celebrate, exchange gifts, and eat themselves into a food coma!  I’ve had a nice Christmas, quiet and low key, but nice.  A far cry from Christmases past.   When I was a kid, we had to go to both sets of grandparents. We’d get up early, my sister and I would see what Santa brought, and open our gifts from each other.  Then we’d load up the car and go to my mother’s folks.  All the aunts and uncles and cousins were there.  We’d eat a huge lunch and open gifts.  Then we’d load up again and go home for a few minutes and go to my father’s folks.   Same scenario there.  Aunts, uncles, and cousins, except this side had more of each. Another huge meal and we’d head home.  By this time, we were so tired we didn’t want to play with our new toys, all we wanted to do was go to bed! After I got married, it got more hectic.  We had to go to my mother in law’s for Christmas with...

 To my readers, On these posts there is a counter that tells how many people have read my post.  It’s usually about the same number every time.  I thank you for reading what I post.  I hope you enjoy what I write. But I have a request for you. I’d love to hear from you.  Tell me if you like what I write or if you don’t like it!  What can I do better?  What subjects or topics would you like to see me write about?  I write about what is on my mind or in my heart that day.  I try to keep it light and positive, but some days there are things weighing on me that I need to talk about.  I won’t get into politics, at least not deep into it. I have my opinions and you have yours.  Respect mine and I’ll respect yours.   There’s a place where you can comment on each post and I’d love to hear from you.  Or, reply to me on Twitter (I refuse to call it X!) or Bluesky. Let me know what you think. Again, thank you for reading what I have ...

I got a haircut yesterday.  It was just as relaxing as the one I wrote about a while back!  I had to wait a few minutes for my barber to finish the guy ahead of me. While I waited, I saw they had a copy of the daily newspaper. I say daily, but it’s now down to three days a week, but I enjoyed looking through it.  I haven’t read an actual newspaper in almost 2 years.  It was pretty sad.  What used to be a paper with 3-4 sections, is now 3-4 pages and most of those are advertisements   Growing up, we always got two newspapers every day, and on Thursdays, we got a third.The paper from Jackson came in the morning, at first it came in the mail, then later on, by carrier. The Vicksburg paper came in the afternoon. The local Hinds County Gazette came on Thursdays. Daddy always said that the Jackson paper wasn’t news, it was history! The things they reported on happened the day before and had already been on the television news.  The afternoon Vicksburg Evenin...

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. No pressure to find the right gift. No hype. No expectations. Just good food and good times, surrounded by people you love.  What could be better.   For about 20 years my Aunt Helen, Uncle Don’s wife, had all my family on my father’s side to their house for Thanksgiving.  Everyone came. It was like a family reunion after my grandparents died. The whole family looked forward to it.  Cousins came from near and far.  So much food! Everyone brought not just a dish, but several dishes!  And they were all good!  There would be 40-50 of us there ranging in age from newborn to 90!   Sadly, Aunt Helen passed away in April of 2022.  Shortly after that, in September, my mother passed away.  Thanksgiving was coming up and we didn’t know what to do.  The two matriarchs who ran the show were gone.  My sister Laurin and I were still grieving the loss of our mother.  My cousin...

I am the father of identical twin boys.  They were born in 1985. This January they will be forty.  At least Lee will. Sadly, we lost Dan in a car accident when he was 15.  While I miss him, and love him, and think of him every day, that’s not what this post is about. No, this is about how twins have been a big part of my life since I was a child. My father was a twin. He had a fraternal twin brother. They were as different as night and day!  But when they were together, they had that special “twin language” you hear about.  They’d mumble in a low voice that we could barely hear and couldn’t understand! All the years we worked together, Daddy never understood that I didn’t know what he was thinking the way Uncle Jerry did! When my father was in his final days before his death, in and out of consciousness, he would call out for his brother.  Uncle Jerry said he couldn’t come because it was like he was dying too.  He felt the pain.  I never forgave h...

NOLA. New Orleans, LA.  The Crescent City. The Big Easy.  Call it whatever you want, just don’t call it “New OrLEENS”!   I told you in another post that New Orleans is just about my favorite place.  It’s tied for first place with the Great Smoky Mountains.  Why do I love New Orleans so?  I’ve been going there since I was a child.  I learned city driving there.  My father told me that if I could drive there, I could drive anywhere!  Once again, he was right!  When my father first got into the truck business, he would go there to look for trucks to sell. He made connections with several dealers and companies that had trucks for sale and he went often.  I used to love to go with him because just up the street from one of the truck dealers was a fruit stand.  They had bananas that were too ripe to ship.  Daddy would buy me a sackful of bananas for less than a dollar and I’d eat bananas all the way home!  I love bananas to...